LEARNING TO READ

I was twenty-one and I worked with Doreen in a solicitors office just off Oxford Street. She was clever, fun and well-read. It wasn't long before she was bringing books to work for me to read. I was like a baby bird with its beak open ready to receive anything she deemed would nourish me. Neville Shute was swallowed whole, along with Hemingway and Thomas Hardy. I couldn't get enough of books by A.J. Cronin (of Doctor Finlay's Casebook fame) and Winston Graham. One day Doreen brought in "My Son, My Son" by Howard Spring and I discovered what it was like to be so captivated by a book I actually read it walking along the road.

And that was that! I was a reader and I've never stopped reading since. Through books I've met thousands of interesting people, eaten hundreds of exotic meals in far away countries and been privy to all sorts of intrigue and mystery.

So, if you're still around, Doreen, bless you. The little bird you nourished has become a veracious book-eating eagle! Thank you, my friend.

Barbara